Headsets are well known in the art and can be used by a variety of persons in a diversity of applications, including telephone operators, radio operators, aircraft personnel, voice recognition business software, computer gaming, and other situations in which “hands-free” access to telecommunication or multimedia systems is desirable. Headsets are typically designed with a plurality of transducers and filtering/compensation circuitry which accompanies each transducer. The filtering/compensation circuitry ensures that the headset operates within certain parameters.
The design and manufacture of headsets normally requires that adjustments be made to the headset transducers and the accompanying filtering/compensation circuitry in order to compensate for manufacturing variations and normalize performance characteristics of the transducers within individual product or customer requirements. For example, during the assembly of a headset, the performance characteristics of the headset microphone transducer is manually tested by first generating an acoustic reference signal at the transducer input with a know amplitude and frequency. The headset's transmit (or microphone) electrical signal characteristics are then adjusted by adjusting the filtering/compensation circuitry implemented within the headset until the measured value falls within the product design specification. Adjustments are typically accomplished by changing a resistor value or adjusting a potentiometer setting. Either solution requires a change or adjustment in electrical filtering/compensation circuitry components which are coupled directly to the printed circuit board (PCB) within the headset capsule. After an initial adjustment is made, the microphone transmit signal characteristics may be continually retested and readjustments may be made until the electronic signal characteristics of the microphone transducer meet the individual design requirements. The headset capsule is then sealed and the final steps in the manufacturing process are completed.
This process of manufacture has several drawbacks. First, the electronic filtering/compensation circuitry must be implemented within the headset, thereby seriously limiting possible design considerations. Further, initial testing and adjustment, which occurs during the manufacturing process, is time consuming and subject to operator error since it is done manually. Each time a transducer is adjusted, it must be subjected to the same conditions as the original test in order to ensure accuracy in adjustment. Finally, many headset assemblies, once completed and sealed, do not allow further testing and adjustment of the individual transducer(s). Accordingly, if there has been any drift or failure in the performance of the transducers during the final stages of assembling the headset or throughout the product life, the same cannot be easily corrected.
Accordingly, what is needed is a more flexible design of headsets which allows for easily testing and quickly adjusting the individual performance characteristics of a headset, both during the manufacturing process and later throughout the life of the headset.
Additionally, headsets are typically used in various telecommunications or multimedia applications by different users. Each time the headset is used in a different application or by a different user, the user must individually adjust audio performance parameters such as volume, tone, balance and the like to their personal requirements. Obviously, each user may have their own preferences for setting these performance parameters. Thus, when there are multiple users for a single headset, the performance parameters must be manually adjusted for each user every time.
For example, in a telecommunications call center it is typical to have three, or more, different agents using the same telephone terminal to headset host adapter combination at different times throughout the day, with each agent having his or her own individual headset. Each agent may have their own individual preferences for the headset application's performance parameters—such as volume, tone, balance, and the like. Requiring each agent to be bothered with remembering preference settings and then readjusting the performance parameters of the host adapter to their individual preferences is both inefficient and time consuming.
A multimedia headset is similar in the need to capture user preferences but with electrical connection and signal performances that follow less demanding adjustment requirements to the audio interface than most telecommunications headsets. However, multimedia computer headsets still require a user to adjust the performance parameters (volume, tone and balance) each time the headset is used.
Accordingly, what is additionally needed is a means to automatically adjust the performance parameters of an application as each individual headset is used within a telecommunications or multimedia application without requiring the individual user to reset the performance parameters.